Karl Slym, the British-born executive brought in to turn around the ailing fortunes of Indian carmaker Tata Motors, has died after falling from a hotel balcony in Thailand.

Mr Slym, 51, is understood to have fallen from the 22nd floor of the five star Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok late on Saturday night after losing his balance. Police are due to conduct a post-mortem on Monday, according to a company spokesman.

He was staying in the city while attending a directors’ board meeting for Tata Motors’ Thai arm.

Mr Slym, who was born in Derby, was hired in October 2012 to revive the Mumbai-based manufacturer’s slowing sales growth and declining market share.

He was in charge of the automaker’s operations in India and other international markets, except for the Jaguar and Land Rover businesses that the group acquired in 2008.

In a statement, Cyrus Mistry, chairman of Tata Motors, said: “Tata Motors deeply regrets to announce the untimely and tragic demise of its Managing Director, Karl Slym, in Bangkok earlier today. Karl Slym was in Bangkok to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of Tata Motors Thailand Ltd.

“Karl Slym joined Tata Motors in October 2012, and was providing leadership to the company through a challenging market environment. The company shares in the grief of Karl Slym’s wife and family at their irreparable loss.”

Before joining Tata Motors, Mr Slym had worked for General Motors for 17 years, serving as the president of the company’s Indian operation between 2007-2011 and as executive vice president of SGWM Motors, a GM joint venture company, in China in 2011-2012.

In December 2012, Tata Motors reported a 28pc drop in sales despite a passenger vehicle industry growth of 8.37pc. The company’s market share also fell from 14.16pc to 12.66pc over the year.

Mr Slym had pledged to earmark Rs15,000 crore (£1.4bn) over the next three years to revive the company after identifying key problem areas in January 2013.